The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1887-11-30

We have all seen the ceremony at the lay
ing of the cornerstone of church, asylum OF
Masonic temple Into the hollow OF the
stone were placed scrolls of history and I'M
prrtant documents to be suggestive If one Q!
two hundred years after the building should
be destroyed by FIRE or torn down. we re
,nemeuber the silver trowel or iron hammer
that smote the square piece OF granite ln,c
Sancaty. eremember some venerable man
who presided, welding the trowel or ham
mer. We remember also the music as the
choir stood on the scattered stones anc
timber Of the building about to be con
structed. The leaves of the notebooks Hut
tered in the wind and were turned over Will
great rustling, and we remember how the
bass, baritone, tenor, contralto and soprano
voices commingled They had for many day:
been rehearsing the special programme, thai
it might be worthy of the cornerstone laying,
In my text the poet Of Uz calls US to
grander ceremony-the laying OF the tounda
ton of this great temple of world. The
corner stone was block Of light, and the
trowel was Of celestial crystal All about
and on the embankments Of cloud stood the
angelic choristers, unrolling their hbrettoS
of overture, and other worlds clapped shin
ing cymbals while the ceremony went on
and God, the architect, by stroke OF hgnt
after stroke of light, dedicated this great
CaUQeOlSA Ol d "OIlO, Will WO0ICS110S iol
pillars, and sky for frescoed ceiling, and
Towering fields for floors, and sunrise and
midnight aurora for upholstery. =" Who laid
the corner stone thereof, when the morning
stars sang togethers"
The fact IS that the whole universe was 8
complete cadence, an unbroken d lthyramb, 8
musical portfolio. The great sheet Of i'm
menSity had been spread out, and written or
it were thestars, the smaller OF them minlms,
the larger Of them sustained notes. The
meteorS marked the staccato passages, the
whole heavens gamut, with all sounds, into
nations and modulationS, the space between
the worlds a musical interval, trembling o!
stellar light euaver, the thunder bass
clef, the wind among trees treble clef.
That IS the way God made all things. a per.
feet harmony.
But one day harp string snapped in the
great orchestra One day a voice sounded
out of tune. One day discor6, harsh and
terrific, grated upon the glorious antiphony.
It was sin that made the diSSonance, and that
harsh discord has been sounding through the
centuries. An the work of Christians, and
philanthropists, and reformers Of all ages, is
to STOP that discord and get all things back
into the perfect harmony which was heard at
the laying Of the cornerstone when the
morning stars sang together. Before get
through, if am divinely helped. will make
it plain that sin is discord and Righteousness
is harmony.
That things in general are out Of tune is as
plain as to musicians ear IS the unhappy
clash Of clarionet and baSsoon in an orches-
ral rendering.
The worlds health out Of tune: Weak lung
and the atmosphere in collision, disordered
eye and MONDAY light II quarrel, rheumatic
limb and damp weathc- in struggle, neural
gias, and pneumonias, and consumptions,
and eplepsies in focks swoop upon neighbor-
hoods and cities. Where you find one person
with sound throat, and keen eyeSight, and
alert ear, and easy respiration, and regular
pulsation, and supple limb, and prime diges-
tion, and steady nerves, you find hundred
who have to be very careful becau use this, or
that, or the other physical function IS dsor-
dered
The human intellect out of tune: The
Judgment wrongly swerved, or the memory
feaSy, or the will weak or the temper in
tiammable, and the well balanced mind eXcep-
tional Domestic life out Of tune: Not only
here and there conjugal outbreak OF lncon-
pstibiity Of temper through the divorce
courts, or flial outbreak about a fathers
will through the Surrogate's Court. or case
Of wife beating OF husband poisoning through
the criminal courts, but thousands Of fam
lies with June outside and January within.
Society out Of tune: Labor and capital:
their hands on each others threats Spirit Of
caste keeping those down in the social scale
in struggle to GeS up, and putting those
who are up in anxiety lest they have to come
down. No wonder the old piancforte of So
ciety is all out of tune, when hypocrisy, and
lying, and subterfuge, and double dealing,
and sycophancy, and charlatanism, and re-
venge have for 5000 years being banging
away at the keys and stamping the pedals.
GciI
of harmonies. Nations in discord. Without
realizing it, so wrong is the feeling Of nation
for nation that the symbols chosen are ferca
and destructive. In this country, where our
skies are full of robins and doves and morn
ing larks, we have for our national symbol the
fierce and filthy eagle, As immoral bird as
can be found in all the pathological cata-
logues In Great Britain, where they have
lambs and fallow deer, their symbol is the
merciless lion In Russia, where from be
tween her frozen north and blooming south
ali kindly beasts dwell, they choose the growl-
ing bear; and in the worlds he-aldry a favor.
tie figure is the dragon, which is a winged
serpent, ferociocs and dreadful And so fond
is the world Of contention that we climb out
through the heavens and baptize one of the
other planets with the spirit of battle, and
call it Mars, after the god Of war. and we give
to the eighth sign Of the zodiac the name
Of the scorpion, creature which IS chiefly
celebrated for its deadly sting. But, after
all, these symbols are expressive of the
way nation feels toward nation. Discord
wide as the continent and bridging the seas.
suppose you have noticed how warmly in
love dry goods stores are with other dry
goods stores, and how highly grocerymen
think of the sugars of the grocerymen on the
same block And in what eulogistic way
aliopaShic and homeopathic doctors speak of
each other, and how ministers will sometimes
put ministers on that beautiful cooking in
strument which the English call q spit, an
iron roller with spikes on II. End turned by 8
crank before hot fire, and then if the min
ister being roasted cries out against it, the
men who are turning him say: 'tHush,
brotheri we are turning this spit for the
You must be quiet while we close the service
with:
ssBlest be the ties that binds
Our hearts in Christian love"
The earth IS diametered and circumfer,
enced with discord, and the music that was
rendered at the laying of the worlds corner
stone, when the morning stars sang together,
is not heard now: and though here and there,
from this and that part of society, and from
this and that part of the earth, there comes
up thrilling solo of love, or warble Of
worship, or sweet duet Of patience, they
are drowned out by discord that shakes
the earth.
Paul says: ''The whole creation groaneth;;" :"
and while the nightingale, and the wood
lark, and the canary, and the plover, some
times sing so sweetly that their notes have
been written out in musical notation, and il
is found that the cuckoo sings in the key OF
D. and that the cormorant IS o baSso in the
winged choir, yet sportsman's gun and the
autumnal blast often leave them ruffled and
bleeding, or dead in meadow OF forest. Paul
u